Honestly, without my family and my animals, I could make several hundred grand a year and not be as happy as I am right now making much less than 100 grand a year.

We aren't rich by any standard, but all the animals eat, IMHO, the best food for them, they get great vet care when ill/injured (outside this last incident), and enough toys and treats to start our own pet store. My Husband and I keep a roof over our heads and we don't worry (much) about the utilities being shut off, so in the end, I'd consider myself to be well-off, but not financially.

I'd like to think we're comfortable. My husband is in the Army and I'm a laboratory assistant at a research and extension center for one of the state universities here as well as a full time student. Combined we make far less than six figures a year.

When we got married 7 years ago, we were struggling. We, as a couple, had to work really hard to get to where we are now. We didn't have the luxury of having anyone help us out either. We ran off and got married because we didn't want either of our families to feel like they had to pay for a big wedding and we didn't want any gifts etc. Just to be able to call each other husband and wife was all we wanted.

We have paid for the last 4 years of school for me out of pocket and I'll graduate in June with no school debt. We weren't able to purchase our first home until we had been married for 4 years and had finally gotten some savings together. We lived for years as a one car family until we paid our Subaru off and decided to buy my husband his beloved BMW R 1200 GSA this past summer when he returned home from his third deployment (maybe I'm biased, but I think the man deserved it!).

The only debt we have is our mortgage and the bike. I'm unable to have children, so we have plenty to give our three pups anything and everything they need to have healthy and happy lives. I will say, it's been a bit of a pain paying for our older boy's medical care over the past 5 months especially the Mitotane which is costing us about $900 per month for the last two, but not enough to cause us to have to sacrifice in other areas of our life to give him the best care possible.

I don't know if "well off" is the term I would use, but you won't catch me complaining.

THIS! My wife was un-employed for the whole of last year, we were considering filing bankruptcy and giving up our house (we've had it for 11 years). Our faith has kept us! My wife is in the second week of what may be a very good job for her (part time, but great hours and no heavy lifting). We are truly blessed!

John
"Life is hard! It's harder if you're stupid!" John Wayne
Prov. 1:7

When we were living in Connecticut, we were what most people would consider "very well off" financially (granted, we were still the scum on the bottoms of the rich people's shoes, but that's Litchfield County for ya ). We were also very unhappy-- both as a couple, and with ourselves. Money doesn't fix your own personal wounds.

We've downsized significantly, my husband sold his company to drive a truck, I graduated from my PhD program and we budget tightly. We're also happier than we've ever been.

In both situations, the dog was far and away spoiled rotten...training classes, high quality food, all the antlers he could handle

Yes but I have fairly low standards. Our house is paid for but most of my clothes are 20 years old. Our car is paid for but my furniture came from an estate sale and none of it matches. We have thousands of dollars stashed away... in ten year CDs. My house is filled with hand me downs and home made items, but it is filled nonetheless. So yes, I am well off.

LeahNiko: American Showline GSD 5 years oldRosa: American Muppet Dog (GSD/Border Collie mix) 5 years old

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the German Shepherd Dog Forums forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

OR

Log-in

User Name

Password

Remember Me?

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.